Gems of Northern Italy - Day 3 Padua and Lagoon Cruise

This is the third in our series on Uniworld’s Gems of Northern Italy river cruise.  This morning we are off to Padua, about 30 - 40 min bus ride from our dock in Venice. We decided to forgo the Padua Basilica tour portion so we’d have more free time in town.

If you missed the beginning of the series click here.

Giant local tomatoes in Padua Italy

Marketing in Padua

We were dropped off in the middle of Padua and given a nice walking overview tour of the city.  Later, we had a few hours to explore on our own.  The town squares are filled with several markets  including  a vegetable market, a fruit market, a meat and cheese market and a clothing market.  So it was fun to just walk around and see and smell the sights. No supermarkets in sight here.

Rights and wrongs

Next, the tour continued through the small Jewish quarter of town.  Interestingly, medieval Padua granted Jews three rights not generally available in Europe at the time. The right to purchase oxen (for transport), the right to be a merchant and the right to an education. Consequently, there were many Jewish doctors from this community.  So perhaps this more liberal view was consistent with the founding of the nearby university.

Happy Graduation

The tour concluded with a short walk through the university. This is one of the oldest universities in the world.  It happened to be graduation day so the town was filled with receptions and graduation parties.  We got to witness proud parents of PhD students and undergraduates celebrating in their own unique way.  As this is where Galileo taught for many years, there's a proud history here.

[gallery ids="6191,6192,6193"]

Minty coffee or coffee flavored mint?

Pedrocchi coffee - hot or cold with macaroons

With enough time to wander around we got a cup of coffee at Pedrocchi Cafe.  This unique coffee is made with mint and creme and is served either hot or cold.  Refreshing and sweet, it’s found only at the cafe which is literally steps from the university.  This is where the seeds of the rebellion against the Austrians in the late 19th century were planted.

Padua is a very nice, working city full of portcullises to protect against the hot summer sun and the foggy, raining winters.  The university adds about 50,000 students. As a result the town is lively, fun and has loads of cafes, coffee houses (not like in Amsterdam), book stores and the ever present Italian shoe stores.

Dante’s footsteps

After our bus ride back to the ship for lunch we set sail.  The ship cruised around the Venetian lagoon heading north. We sat up on deck all afternoon as an excellent narration by a local expert explained the geology, history and culture of Murano, Burano and Torcello.  Highlights include:  a saber opening a wine bottle, a great view of the Arsenale, a huge shipyard from the 13th and 14th century (Dante wrote about it), lots of sand islands with “squishy soil” which have taken on water over the years, Murano island which was settled in 800 AD, farms which grow unique Venetian vegetables due to their saline water, monastic islands with structures from the 12th century, salt mining area (no longer in use but very important in middle ages, Burano full of colored houses and the leaning tower Torchella which was the first lagoon settlement from 1008.

We were served lots of colorful drinks up on deck.  The  benefits of  the Uniworld all inclusive category was on full display.  Even though we don’t really drink much, it was nice not to have to worry about the cost of another Procesco.  Actually we drank water almost exclusively as it was pretty hot out there.  Although the deck has plenty of shade,  the humidity made it pretty uncomfortable.  After the narration ended, we stayed up on deck though, missing a wine tasting opportunity downstairs.  It was a very pleasant afternoon made even better talking with our fellow passengers.  

[gallery ids="6202,6200,6201"]

We had a really nice dinner featuring a panko crusted halibut.  One of the better dishes we’ve had.  Excellent.

Fun Fish Festival

Chioggia Fish Festival - lots of fish, fun and people.

After dinner we head out on our own into the small town of Chioggia, where we are docked.  They have a local fish festival every year for two weeks during this time.  This is a huge affair with the entire main street filled with people, restaurants and music.  Just a lot of fun to see a bunch of Italians at 10 pm eating, drinking and making merriment.  We saw mostly families but also lots of teenagers as well as seniors.

So just like anywhere else around the world - people love to gather together for food, drinks, some music and just the fun of being together outside.

Want to find out more?  Here's a link about some of the islands in the lagoon.